Connecticut couple accused of smuggling infant from Guatemala to U.S.

Published
12:00 am EDT, Thursday, April 18, 2013

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced Thursday that Maria Gonzalez, 42, of Stamford, and her husband, Henry Fernando Lopez, 36, of Fairfield, have been charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiring to smuggle an infant from Guatemala into the United States.

Gonzalez, who is a citizen of Argentina and a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., is also charged with passport fraud offenses.

Gonzalez appeared on before United States Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport and was released on a $100,000 bond. Lopez is currently being sought by law enforcement.

As alleged in the complaint, Gonzalez traveled to Guatemala in March 2009 and met with a pregnant girl who was 14-years-old at that time. The birth mother agreed to give her child to Gonzalez, and Gonzalez agreed to pay for the birth mother's delivery and some additional costs. The child was born on April 18, 2009, and the birth mother gave the child to Gonzalez and Lopez.